Once the future of English football, Arsenal's Jack Wilshere is now frustrated and largely forgotten

In the week Wayne Rooney quit international football, another talent we hoped would be a world-beater suffered the latest of many career setbacks — but at just 25 it is too easy to assume he's lost for good

He is on the comeback from injury, but he would not have been in anyway.

A couple of days before Rooney announced his retirement from international football, Wilshere looked like he could have been announcing his own with an unseemly scrap and dismissal while playing for Arsenal Under-23s.

For a young midfielder who, only six years ago, was described by one of the world’s finest players as the future of English football, it was a distinctly unedifying sight — 25-year-old Wilshere getting into fights with lads in a development match.

The latest step in Wilshere's most recent injury comeback ended with his dismissal (Image: Rex Features)

This is the Wilshere of whom Xavi, one of Barcelona’s finest, said in 2015 : “I see him as the future of English football. I have played against him, I have watched him carefully … he can go on and be one of the best midfield players in the world.”

If you haven’t seen it yet, Wilshere reacted to a nasty challenge in a game that was part of his latest rehabilitation, pushed the aggressor over and, by all accounts, was involved in a tunnel fracas after being sent off.

Considering his physical suffering, you can understand Wilshere being riled by recklessness. Wilshere can be pigeon-holed as injury-prone all you want but the fact is that a good proportion of his injuries have come from collisions.

Amazingly, the Arsenal man hasn't scored a senior goal since THAT double in Slovenia over two years ago (Image: Getty)

The Paddy McNair tackle in November 2014, for example, that sidelined him at a crucial period of his career was a shocker. But there were probably extra frustrations at work when Wilshere’s temper erupted in the junior game against Man City.

Six and a half years ago, Wilshere made his first start for England in a friendly away to Denmark.

In a 2-1 win, he had a smashing game.

Wilshere's long list of injuries include six months out from November 2014... (Image: Action Images)

...with ankle damage suffered against Manchester United at the Emirates (Image: Arsenal FC/Getty)

He returned home with a framed England jersey signed by the team members. Almost to a man, they commented on how Wilshere, who had just turned 19 at the time, was the future.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way.

Fate, of course, is fickle.

In that same game in Copenhagen, one Christian Eriksen - six weeks younger than Wilshere - was also outstanding.

England looked to have found a gem after his first start against Denmark in 2011... (Image: Getty)

...but an even younger player on the other side that night has shone brighter since (Image: Getty)

Eriksen’s’ career progress has been relatively smooth, and he is now one of the Premier League’s most consistently excellent performers with Tottenham. It would surprise no-one if a Barcelona or a Real Madrid pursued Eriksen sooner rather than later.

Wilshere, by contrast, did not really make a serious impact in a season’s loan at Bournemouth.

Yet despite that, and despite the bad-tempered indiscretion on Monday, Arsene Wenger is thought to be holding out a final hope for him.

A hope Wilshere will avoid the injuries that have blighted his career.

A hope the young man himself will live the life of a committed athlete in order to give himself the best possible chance of maximising his immense talent.

A hope that in physique, temperament and on-the-field and off-the-field behaviour, Wilshere can find a level that allows him to reignite the talent that once burned so brightly.

It is probably a long shot - the horse has probably bolted a good while ago, the stable door slammed shut - but it is one worth taking, and that England must hope pays off.

It is too easy to forget Wilshere was a rare English talent, too easy to assume it has been lost for good.

poll loading

Will Jack Wilshere ever become the player so many thought he'd develop into?